Larry Riley pre-draft chat: On Greg Monroe, less Don Nelson, and building around Curry

Whew. 55-minute sitdown with Warriors GM Larry Riley this afternoon–such a long talk that I edited out huge chunks while transcribing and it still took me forever.

Oh well: Red meat for the Warriors’ draft-a-holics, who haven’t been getting much to chew on of late.

Some quick highlights before the LONG partial transcript…

* Riley said he thinks the draft will go as predicted 1-5 before their 6th pick, even with the Sacramento-Philly trade today.

I assume that means he thinks John Wall to Washington, Evan Turner to Philly, Derrick Favors to New Jersey, Wesley Johnson to Minnesota and DeMarcus Cousins to Sacramento, maybe with a switch or two in there.

But those five going before the Warriors, and I’d say Georgetown’s Greg Monroe sure sounds like the most likely W’s option at 6 in that situation.

Monroe, Al-Farouq Aminu, Xavier Henry and a few others were mentioned by Riley as potential options.

Riley called Monroe the “best passer” in college last year and compared him to Bill Walton. If it’s a smokescreen, it’s a big one.

* Riley conceded that Don Nelson has been less involved in these preparations and said he would not be specifically drafting for players to fit Nelson’s system since this is a draft for the organization’s long-term future.

When I asked directly if Nelson had less influence on the pick, Riley said: “probably so, yeah.”

He said Nelson would be coming back into town this weekend.

* Obviously Riley acknowledges that his own time with the team might be short with the franchise sale well in process.

* Riley didn’t say so precisely, but sounded like he wasn’t too worried about Cousins’ attitude questions if Cousins should fall to 6.

* Said that the Warriors would be factoring in how a player would fit with Stephen Curry, maybe specifically in a pick-and-roll situation.

* Said that he’s not looking to trade Anthony Randolph, unless he can get a great player in return.

There’s a lot more. To the talking…

–LARRY RILEY partial transcript/

-Intro: A week to go and a lot of stuff will happen during the next week.

We had one move today in regards to a trade and everybody’s trying to figure out what does that mean and that’s up to Geoff Petrie, that’s not up to me, and it’s up to Philadelphia. Everyone will make some so-called guest-imates as what it might mean in terms of who they might draft, each one of them.

Obviously I’m more concerned about who we’re going to draft. I do think that all of you are pretty much on the same page and probably of the same thinking that there are four guys that are locked into this draft that are definitely going to be gone by the time we pick.

And the likelihood of a fifth one is fairly strong. And then after that, we’re sitting there making a choice among the guys that are left.

We are prepared for the fact that someone could slip through the cracks. That’s in general what happened two days before the draft last year, we figured out that Curry would be there… So it could change a little bit.

But in reality, we’ve got three or four scenarios with a certain degree of strength that we believe in, in terms of what is going to happen and who will be available and we’ll be prepared to make a pick of that.

There has been some discussion on my part and other people’s part—people calling me and me calling other people about moving up or moving back. And there’s no movement to report on that right now.

[CUT]

We’ll continue to work and see what happens with that. If we stay at six, that’s fine with me. I don’t have a problem with picking at six.

I’ll tell you right now I’m not close to it. I don’t have one that I’m ready to jump on.

It’s like the Randolph stories. Every time that his name hits the paper, it’s ‘imminent’ that he’s going to be traded.

Well, I told him last Monday, same thing I told him last February: I’m not trading you… unless there’s a heckuva good player on the other side of the deal. You’re not going anywhere.

You know what? For a young guy, he has a pretty good grasp of how this league operates and it doesn’t seem to faze him. I would imagine the first time it probably did…

I wouldn’t say he’s callous to it, but it would seem that he knows the drill as far as how the league operates.

You guys have had information about who we have brought in, so you know who’s been brought here. Monroe from Georgetown will be here this weekend. And I’m going to talk to John Greig this afternoon in regards to DeMarcus Cousins. So I don’t know where that’s exactly going until I visit with him today.

I have no problem drafting a guy who hasn’t come in here to work out. You have some teams that’ll say, if this guy or that guy doesn’t come in to work out for you, then we’re just not taking you.’

Sure glad we didn’t apply that principle to Steph Curry last year. We can get comfortable enough… we’re comfortable enough right now that if we wanted to pick a guy who didn’t visit here, that we know enough about that person, about the make-up of that person and about his basketball ability, that we could make that choice.

-Q: A guy like Cousins who has been circled as a potential attiude problem… are you comfortable you know enough about him?

-RILEY: I am comfortable. And it seems like… I can’t speak to everything that’s been written because I don’t spend a lot of time going through articles and so forth… But it seems there was sometime a month ago or so an aura around him where people were raising questions. And then it kind of continued…

After a great deal of conversation with people who know, my mind is clear that that’s not that kind of an issue for me to be overly concerned with. I’m more concerned with basketball ability and what he can bring and how we can work with him.

And I will say that about Greg Monroe. I will say that about Udoh… even Xavier Henry or Aminu. All of those guys, we have done that with. I’m comfortable with the people that we’ve had in that are on our board.

I haven’t drawn a line through anybody’s name and said, ‘Nah, we won’t take this guy.’

[CUT]

I’ve seen all these guys play. I can tell you Monroe plays hard and understand the game, just give you that capsule.

I’ve seen Cousins play, he’s a great talent. I’ve seen Udoh play, he has an NBA-ready game, to fit into the NBA. You want to ask me about Xavier Henry? He’s not as… I don’t want to say skilled… he’s not quite as NBA-ready as some of the others, but he’s going to be a good player in his rookie year…

Throw me another name: Aminu, just good athleticism, tremendous upside.

-Q: Some of those players might be fairly similar to players you already have…

-RILEY: They are.

-Q: Would that make you possibly shy away players like Aminu or Udoh maybe because they are so similar to players you have?

-RILEY: I’m still pretty big on the idea let’s take the bset player we can get. It’s a little bit like stockpiling talent. And I know that sometimes those guys bump into each other and there isn’t enough playing time.

But I’ll say it again, the only thing we’re not going to do, I’m not going to take a point guard with that pick. We know that. But it could go in any other direction.

If I drafted a center, we already have two centers that are under contract, that are with us, and if you draft a four-man, well, we have Wright and Randolph and Maggette’s played over there a great deal, and Tolliver… You’ve got a lot of those guys.

And everybody knows, we’ve got those guys that are 2s and 3s.

It’d be nice just to have a true blueblood 3, but the way we play, there’s not a whole lot of diference between 2s and 3s. The expectations would be that maybe your 3s would rebound a little bit better and that would be it.

As far as our roster is concerned, whoever we pick, that guy that we pick is probably going to bump into some people in terms of already having players at that position.

-Q: How risky is Cousins and the questions about his weight?

-RILEY: I think with today’s technology and the things that you can do, you minimize the likelihood of that happening. And I use the word ‘minimize’, not eliminate. Because it is important that our guys all have the proper diet and they get the proper amount of rest.

[CUT]

It’s a matter of then everybody doing their job and the player making the commitment. And the question then goes right back to OK, do I believe he would make that commitment? And I’ll have to make that judgment.

But I think there’s plenty of support for him to go in the right direction. You can guide them, you can’t necessarily lead them any more.

[CUT]

-Q: Do you consider Cousins strictly a center?

-RILEY: No, I don’t. I think he has skills enough to play 5 and 4. I just think he’s going to be a really good player. He’s got soft hands and good feet. His skill level’s pretty darn good.

-Q: How about Cole Aldrich?

-RILEY: I do consider him a 5 and I consider that’s it. I don’t see any 4 skills. I was pleased with his workouts here because he… it was just a 3 on 3 but he exposed a great deal of knowledge on the floor and was a guy who was talking to the other players that were on his team. The team concept issues seemed to bubble up with him quite a bit.

-Q: Is it hard to look at 5s and 4s when you’re drafting for a Don Nelson-coached team, since they have to do some very different things than big men usually do? Do you have to avoid certain guys because they won’t fit what he does?

-RILEY: No, because we’re drafting for the long-terms and not for the next year. And we’ll look at the total picture and look at it as a long-term draft choice. So that will not enter into it.

-Q: Then does Nelson have less input in this?

-RILEY: I would say, probably so, yeah. Now, certainly I talk to him every other day…

I want his opinions. I want to know what he thinks of basketball players. But this is a draft for the Warriors organization for the long-term.

-Q: But while you’re the GM, you’ll always play up-tempo?

-RILEY: That’s what I would like to see happen here. And all of you will come back with the next question, well, what if you’re not here? Hey, I can’t answer that one. I’ll proceed until I’m told not to proceed. But that’s the way I see things.

Everybody in this room and every Warriors season-ticket-holder and every Warriors fan would love to see us play better defense. In the ideal world, that’s what you want to see.

But yeah, I like the up-tempo style of play. [CUT]

-Q: You’ve said before you’ve been told business as usual, even with the sale coming. But there has to be some limitations, right? Can you trade Randolph tomorrow without clearing it from Rowell or Cohan? How does that work?

-RILEY: All I do is, Chris told me to make basketball decisions. Now, he would always have the ability to veto a trade or the signing of a free agent later on or something like that. But it is business as usual.

[CUT]

I would expect the way things are going that if I had a trade that I wanted to do next week, I would expect him to sign off on it, provided that it didn’t put us in the luxury tax. That’s the one thing.

-Q: How about adding future salary? Is that permittable?

-RILEY: It’s permissible as long as you don’t go into the luxury tax, and there isn’t a lot of room for that. You could make a trade… we might make a trade that adds a $1M into our salaries next year, and we could do that.

-Q: But if it adds only a $1M next year but adds huge long-term dollars on the back end?

-RILEY: I would think, myself, I wouldn’t go for that unless it’s a great player. I would put the brakes on that before I took it to him. I am not about taking on huge salaries unless that guy is a difference-maker and elevates this franchise into the situation that everybody wants to get it, and that’s playoff-contender and then deeper into the playoffs and those kinds of things.

[CUT]

-Q: With the situation involving the sale, do you find other GMs calling you more because of the short-term situation or are they calling you less?

-RILEY: I’ve noticed that the same number of phone calls have come in this summer that came in around February. There doesn’t seem to be much change there. What you always notice is that occasionally people will look at it and say, ‘Hmm, is there a way to take advantage of this situation?’ I get one of those every now and then. Just saying, well, OK, maybe there’s a money-saving ploy that I can throw at them…

I get a few of those.

-Q: So you haven’t been instructed to get rid of some contracts?

-RILEY: No. I have not. There’s some business that I would like to do. But since I’ve been here, ownership has never come to me and said, ‘Clear out salary. Save money.’ That has never happened.

-Q: You’ve talked about moving up or moving down from the 6 slot. What’s your sense of what the 6th pick is worth?

-RILEY: The history of it, if you look at last year and the trade that was made between Minnesota and Washington [which sent Randy Foye and Mike Miller to Washington for the 5th pick plus other players], that’s about what the value seems to be this year. The same kind of thing.

-RILEY: In most instances, that would be more desirable. To move down, I’d have to get a player that would be involved that I covet. Then you can do that…

-Q: You don’t always build a roster around just one player. But Curry is obviously such a big part of this team’s future. Is that a top factor—how is any new guy going to play with Curry? For instance, is a guy who can play the pick and roll with Curry?

-RILEY: It is true. I mean, it’s obvious and true. He’s the guy who’s going to have the ball in his hands a lot, and you’re going to play right through him a great deal.

Now, we did see a lot also of situations last year where Nellie does the point-forward stuff and he goes down under the basket and that kind of thing…

But in general, he’s the point guard of this team and Monta plays at the 2. That’s the direction that we’re going… Generally, you don’t build your team around your 2-guard.

You try to build it around your point guard and your center, or maybe your point guard and your power forward, something like that…

But you’re right, you can almost say, ‘OK, we’re going to look at Stephen Curry and see how a newly drafted player fits and where he goes, right beside Stephen Curry or does he become a pick-and-roll player.’

-Q: So what skills generally do you need that would fit with Curry?

-RILEY: I do think a low-post player who can operate a little bit down in the block is something that we’ve been missing and I think everybody sees that. I also think the guy himself would need to be a pick-and-roll player.

The pick-and-roll is such a part of NBA basketball… that’s a characteristic that you would like anybody to have…

I do like elbow jumpshooters. You know, if you’re talking about a big guy, I like a guy who can make an elbow jumpshot, particularly if it’s a 4-man. And who can pass from that position.

There’s some guys that may not look as great as you watch them play, but they have such a skill that they facilitate things for everyone else. Greg Monroe is one of those guys.

Greg Monroe is the best passer in college basketball. He makes people better around him.

-Q: Best passing big man? Or best passer no matter the position?

-RILEY: Yep. In college basketball. I don’t care who you’re talking about. Now John Wall was great, let’s don’t take that away from him. John Wall puts the ball right in people’s hands. But I’ll tell you what, Greg Monroe makes people better around him. You don’t see many big guys who facilitate or who help other people.

Similar to what Bill Walton did as a high-post player.

-Q: If you draft a skinny 4, would that make you more likely to trade Randolph?

-RILEY: No, I don’t see that. I think you understand… I really am not looking to trade him. I’m not in search of trading Anthony Randolph and I’m not shopping him. I think we have to work with him. This is the year that will make a lot of determination on him and he’ll make a determination on his career.

There’s huge upside there. I would hate to walk away from that.

-Q: You’re talking about the long-term and also avoiding the luxury tax. Does that mean you’re eventually going to have to trade one or more of your bigger contracts?

-RILEY: We’re in pretty decent shape as we go forward on that. I don’t see that as something that’s going to jump up and bite us… I think we can manage the cap well enough to keep it where we’re not in that kind of difficulty.

-Q: In earlier years, Don Nelson has been much more present in the pre-draft stuff . He’s not here now. Will he be here for the draft itself?

-RILEY: Yeah. He’s coming… I think it’s Saturday morning.

-Q: Is it natural for him to be less involved, knowing there’s an ownership change, that he’s in the last year of his contract?

-RILEY: I think you have several other coaches who basically don’t get involved in the draft. I don’t think Jerry Sloan does a lot in Utah… I don’t think Phil Jackson even bothers with it. So it’s not totally out of character for coaches to do that.

It is a little different for Nellie because he was here when Mully was here. We came in and we were at the workouts and so forth. And last year, I don’t know exactly when he came back, but he did come back earlier than now. This is late for him, so to speak.

But I don’t know what his thinking is on all that other than we have flooded him with tapes and information… I’m not sure how much value he places on just seeing a guy in a workout and that being your only vision of him.

[CUT]

-Q: Who was the first person in the organization who fell in love with Curry?

-RILEY: I can tell you when I fell in love with him. I go back to December. And Nellie wasn’t looking at college basketball at the time. I would say that I fell in love with him first.

[CUT]

-Q: So you told your coach we have to pick Curry?

-RILEY: I gave Nellie a list of players that I liked and I said here’s what I’m thinking, here’s what they are, and I had Curry at the top of that list once it was determined that we were picking at 7. There were some guys that weren’t even on that list—weren’t going to put Blake Griffin on, he was going No. 1.

[CUT]

I’d say a week to 10 days before the draft we both had Steph Curry as the No. 1 guy that we would take… Convenient for both of us because as all of you know, particularly those of you in the media, there was a lot of question about who was going to make the pick and whether I would actually pick somebody that he didn’t like. Well, that one turned out pretty easy because we both ended up on the same guy.

-Q: You had Curry ahead of Rubio?

-RILEY: I did. I like Rubio. But there were other reasons I wanted to go with Curry ahead of Rubio. And I’ll tell you what, for a long time I had Tyreke Evans right there with Curry.

-Q: So how different is the scenario this year with you and Nelson?

-RILEY: I’ve told him what the rank order is of the guys that I’m looking at. And he’s been doing a lot of film work and so forth and we’ve exchanged some thoughts. And I’ll tell you this right now, we’re pretty darn close on what we’re going to do this year. And I’ll make the pick.

-Q: It’s high for him, but any intrigue in Gordon Hayward, who seems to fit your system?

-RILEY: Yeah, really intrigued by him… I was in there in December and again in February and felt the same way…. He is very intriguing for us. You’re absolutely right, it’s a little bit high for us. But he’s a guy where, OK, if you traded backwards, he’s really a candidate. Because he does all kinds of things.

He’s going to rebound a little better than people think in the NBA. And get to the basket just a little bit better than people think in the NBA. Now, the next thing is how much will his shooting improve? He’s just not a knockdown shooter. You’ve got to guard him, you can’t just leave him alone. But I think his shooting will get better.

[CUT] He’s a little bit like the same characteristics that Dunleavy has as a basketball player.

-Q: Hypothetically, you have a choice between a big rebounder like Paul Millsap or a guy who can score like Eric Gordon. Who do you take?

-RILEY: Cousins is ready to play right now, Favors is not. And they’re both going to be good.

-Q: Your thoughts on Wesley Johnson? Is he that pure 3?

-RILEY: I would. I really like Wesley Johnson. Really like him. Think he can play 3 and might at some point of course play 2.

-Q: He’s 23—does that bother you?

-RILEY: Not at all. In fact, I see it as a plus. When we got Josh Howard out of Wake Forest, he had played all four years and was an older guy, therefore actually was ready to play as a rookie, significantly. It wouldn’t hurt me to have a guy with some age. That wouldn’t bother me.

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I wonder if Riley gets his info from actually talking to other GM’s or from ESPN like the rest of us? I honestly don’t know

Swopa

For a guy widely considered to be a puppet, Riley sure comes across as very confident in assessing the players in the draft.

Of course, nailing last year’s pick might make anyone cocky. That (and the higher pick, reducing the number of players who have to be assessed) is probably part of why Nelson is less involved in the draft.

gsuen

Monroe? Really. I guess then Nellie wouldn’t be around. I can’t see him getting any run in a Nellie offense.

khiladi

I would give Riley a chance even after owner ship change. He got the job at the worst time and he has been open about most of the stuff. He is not great.. but great only happens when things are aligned… and with DUBS they have not been aligned for past 3 years.

khiladi

TK thanks for not making this article about your self.. for a change this was a better article just cause i forgot you wrote it.

DJ

Monroe is so our pick if Cousins goes 5.

JZ

I still am fuming about the Warriors draft slot! Before the lottery, all I ever heard was that this was a 3 player draft with the Warriors sitting pretty at 4. All of a sudden this has turned into a 5 player draft with the Warriors sitting at 6! HOW the HECK does this seem to happen to the Warriors!?

Hi

Riley for the win.

JZ

this is almost as bad as the year that we owned the Hawks Top 3 Protected Lottery pick and The Hawks end up getting the 3rd Slot!

Laker’s winning the championship, Nelson coaching next season and Warriors blowing chance to pick Cousins for Nellie’s record?
This has been a bad, bad year folks.

Wilson

The question always has to be how honest a GM is in discussing the prospects. In this case, I suspect that Riley would like to grab one of the top five. So in praising Monroe – maybe overpraising him – he is trying to plant the idea in one of the other GM’s that maybe Monroe’s passing skills are so great that they should grab him. Sitting at six, there is no reason to try to fool anybody behind him, so the best he can do is convince somebody ahead of him to go against conventional wisdom. By the way, if the first five go as expected, I think Monroe probably is as good a pick as any.

rs

I hope whoever buys the team, is willing to compete for a championship, That means willing to go into the luxury tax. I hate the Lakers and their fans, I hope Warrior fans get to celebrate some day.

Swopa

Wilson — given the amount of praise Riley heaped on Curry before the draft last year, I’d say he’s probably figured that other GMs are going to make their own decisions based on their own research, rather than caring what some other GM says:

————————————
I know Warriors’ talent people love Curry and have for a while. Riley confirmed such with his glowing review of Curry, concluding that Curry is more of a point guard than a two guard.

RILEY: “Most people feel he’s a 2-1. Quite candidly, I feel he’s a 1-2. I think his passing skills are really pretty good. . . . I saw him pass the ball, put it on the money. He made long passes, he made short passes and obviously make shots. I do see him as more of a 1-2. But I’ll bet that I’m in the minority on that.”
————————————–

That was a couple of days BEFORE Curry was drafted by the W’s.

KennySeagle, Emperor of the North

Kenny Seagle your Emperor of the North declare Monroe 2 be the pick in ins
2010 fear less draft predictions….

ANY QUESTIONS???????

earl monroe

Cousins sounds a lot like Zach Randolph.

jason bourne

I’m okay with getting the BAP in Greg Monroe.

fillmoe mike

I would love for us to draft greg monroe..he’s a legit center @ 6’11 245 pounds…has long arms and plays pretty good defense….

Nellie Will Never see the HOF

“Everybody in this room and every Warriors season-ticket-holder and every Warriors fan would love to see us play better defense. In the ideal world, that’s what you want to see.”

Thanks, Larry.

“But in general, he’s the point guard of this team and Monta plays at the 2. That’s the direction that we’re going… Generally, you don’t build your team around your 2-guard.”

Ever hear of Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan? God, I hate these guys.

KauaiRobert

TO: Nellie Will Never see the HOF

Riley said “Generally, you don’t build your team around your 2-guard.”

GENERALLY meaning most of the time that’s the common practice.

They can’t all be Michael Jordans and Kobe Bryants.

Clueless.

Rick

20: You’re saying that Kobe and Jordan fit into the “general” category? Sheesh.

Nellie Will Never see the HOF

…the point is, at least 12 of the last two decade’s worth of championships were built around the shooting guard. so generally speaking, teams built around point guards, teams that dont emphasize defense or rebounding, teams that use big men to set screens 18 feet away from the hoop and nothing else, teams whose players don’t have a role, yeah, they generally see the lottery every year.

earl monroe

How interesting to actually say “we are not drafting for a style of play”

15/70

Monroe, Cousins or Johnson whoever falls out of those 3 is a good pick. Cousins has star potential at the 5 which is hard to pass up, Monroe is a great up tempo center, not very athletic but easily could be a 12 point, 8 rebound, 4 assist, 2 block player who makes his teammates better. He would be a good compliment to Randolph. His game away from the basket reminds of a cross between Chris Webber/Vlade Divac in terms of player who can do a bit of everything from the Center spot. People are really high on Johnson but wing players are so easy to find he better be a future all-star if you’re taking him this high. Centers who can run the floor with great passing skills (Monroe) or with star potential (Cousins) are so hard to find and it fits a need on the team.

Larry Smith

Tim thank you so much for this red meat! Exactly what I needed to read.

uhwhat

Wade and Bryant are the only 2’s in the league you would build around. Neither would have championships without elite bigs.

I cant believe Aldrich was even brought in for a workout. If they pick him at 6 I’m done…

Robo

Trade Corey Maggette to the Philadelphia 76ers for their 1st Round Pick (2nd Overall) and take Derrick Favors. If necessary, trade a future 1st or 2nd Round Pick(s) to get this deal done.

Trade Monta Ellis to the Minnesota Timberwolves for their 1st Round Pick (4th Overall), plus the rights to Ricky Rubio and take either Evan Turner or Wesley Johnson. If necessary, trade a future 1st or 2nd Round Pick(s) to get this deal done.

If Warriors 1st Round Pick (6th Overall) is still available, take either Greg Monroe, Al-Farouq Aminu, or DeMarcus Cousins.

Minus Corey and Monta’s contracts, the Warriors are now $20M below the salary cap; enough money to offer a max deal to either Chris Bosh, LeBron James, or Dirk Nowitzki; and re-sign Anthony Morrow and C.J. Watson.

If/when Larry Ellison purchases the Warriors, he has enough money and marketing connections to secure both Chris Bosh and Lebron James. Secure both Bosh and James and the value of the Warriors at least doubles. Even without Bosh and James the W’s are bigger, younger, and have a lot of cap space, in addition to the best fans in the league.

Hey Chris Cohan! Trading Corey Maggette and Monta Ellis may actually increase the value of the Warriors; it’s like cleaning your house before you sell it – it just makes it more appealing.

San Francisco Slim

My thought even before the lottery was that Nelson/Riley would like Monroe and not Cousins. But it appears that this draft is being conducted by Riley alone; Nelson isn’t running things, since he is completely a lame duck. As Riley states, he is drafting for the long term benefit of the organization. to be honest, that is his best chance at sticking around with the organization after the sale.

In that case, the Warriors would definitely select Cousins if he fell to them. But Monroe is probably the most likely pick at 6. Good value and would fit their personelle.

earl monroe

#28 Check out the stats of Rudy Gay vs Corey Maggette, you might find it very interesting, Gay is way more of a black hole that Maggette, I found it extremely
eye opening, even to the point of actually liking Maggette.

Not too many GM’s out there are clamoring for Gay, if I was Memphis I would try to
get rid of him, ultimately I think the Warriors need to get rid of Magette too, but in comparison to Gaye Magette is the better player.

I know there are many Gay supporters here, but the numbers do not add up nor does the mental makeup of Rudy Gay.

As far as Ellis for Gay, Ellis is much the better player, although you can make an argument for wanting a bigger backcourt, not many players in the NBA who can do what Ellis does offensively.

Deftoned40oz

Robo #30…

Were you dropped on your head? Did you just start watching basketball? You know the other team has to actually agree to the trade right? Im seriously wondering what you were thinking when you write “Trade Corey Maggette to the Philadelphia 76ers for their 1st Round Pick (2nd Overall)…” I just want to hear one reason why you think the sixers would consider that. Sorry, its just so f***in stupid that it caught my eye. You think teams want to trade early picks for non-stars with huge contracts…and your post just went downhill from there, I don’t think I really need to go on…typical casual fan over-valuing some of the players on this team. Do some research next time, please…

If only the Warriors FO had thought to turn Maggette and Monta into LeBron or Bosh, Evan Turner, and Derrick Favors. I mean, it worked on robo’s video game!

J-Walk

Very candid by Larry. I like that this draft will be handled as a long term investment for the future of the team rather than short term goals. I’m not ecstatic about any player at 6. Maybe Cousins falls but more likely we end up with Monroe. I’m more interested in seeing a healthy Biedrins, Turiaff, Randolph, Wright front court with Curry and Ellis.

some guy

#23 (Nellie Will Never see the HOF)

wow some people just don’t know when to quit. 1st off those 1st 3 championships in LA were Shaq’s. it’s amazing how soon people forget how dominant he was both defensively & offensively at the time. those that aren’t fooled by guys making tough, inhuman shots or highlight reel plays would argue that this current incarnation of the Lakers relies more on the length, rebounding & inside game from the frontline of Gasol, Odom & Bynum.

don’t forget that Kobe w/o Gasol & the emergence of Bynum struggled to make the playoffs & Wade has been in the bottom half of a weak eastern conference w/o an effective Shaq (ppl forget but he put up 23 & 10 in 34 min/g as well as 20 & 9 in only 30 min/g in the 2 seasons in which Miami was thought to be a contender).

only Jordan has won without a top tier big man (though Rodman was a top tier defensive big man), but he had Pippen who was also considered a top 5 NBA player at the time. Jordan fanboys won’t want to hear it, but he benefited from the expansion from 23 teams to 30 during the 90s which left the league bereft of talent; (it’s been remedied to an extent by the foreign players – but certainly not enough to fill 7 additional rosters.)

the 1st 3 Jordan championships & the 74-75 Warriors are probably the only 2 teams in the modern NBA to win championships w/o a legitimate all-star big man.

RFrank

When Jordan was busy winning his 6 championships the league was probably as weak as it has been in a generation. The only real centers in the NBA at that time were Olajuwon and and Ewing – and Hakeem didn’t have Pippen, Rodman and Grant around him, and Ewing was always overrated (he never was the defensive presence that his college reputation led us to believe.) Jordan was an elite player, however he didn’t get his titles until Pippen and a few other role players were brought in.

Robo

For #33

Maggette has a 20.4 PER at 8.9M in comparison to Igoudala, only a 17.8 PER at 12.2M and Brand with a 15.7 PER at 14.8M. He’s also better than Nocioni with an 11.2 PER at 7.5M. Maggette is basically a free throw machine, a good shooter and rebounder. As another comparison Kobe Bryant has a slightly better PER of 21.9 but at a cost of 23M. Those are the numbers.

For #34

My post had Monta going to Minnesota for the 4th pick in the draft and Ricky Rubio, who is never going to play for Minnesota. In either trade scenario (PHI or MIN), I’d be willing to give up this years 1st Rounder (#6) or future 1st and 2nd round picks. The W’s are one of the youngest teams in the league; future draft picks are not what the team needs, a bonafide max deal free agent is.

Robo

Again at #33

Didn’t you write the following?

Deftoned40oz Says:
January 26th, 2010 at 12:51 am

If getting a combo of Ellis’ money, Maggette’s money and/or Beadrins’ money off the books was the deciding factor in a Larry Ellison purchase of the franchise then f*** it, I’m in…

Harp’s Dubs

@Robo – Maggette to Philly makes no sense, but here’s something that does:

Maggette and Randolph to Memphis for a signed Rudy Gay and the #9 pick (Baylor’s Ekpe Udoh).

Trade Monta and the #6 pick (Cousins/Monroe) for Brand and the #2 pick (Evan Turner).